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April 23, 2013

Review: Captain Beyond-Frozen Over Texas (Live 1973)

The
latest CD to be reviewed, was by another of those unknown artists, well,
certainly unknown to me. The album is Frozen
Over Texas (Live 73) by Captain Beyond. First port of call was an internet
search to find out a bit about Captain Beyond, and I was surprised at the
information I found. Captain Beyond are described as one of the more overlooked
“supergroups” of the time. The composition of the band was very impressive, Rod
Evans (lead vocals and ex Deep Purple), Bobby Caldwell (drums and ex Johnny
Winter Group), Larry “Rhino” Reinhardt (Guitar and ex Iron Butterfly) and Lee
Dorman (bass and ex Iron Butterfly). The band released 3 studio albums, Captain Beyond (1972), Sufficiently Breathless (1973) and Dawn Explosion (1977), but it was the
debut album that gained the highest plaudits. The album being reviewed, Frozen Over Texas (Live 73) was recorded
prior to the second album being recorded and is the only live material from the
band to survive. I also have managed to glean that the Frozen Over Texas album is in fact a cleaned up (sound-wise)
bootleg version of the Far Beyond A
Distant Sun-Live In Arlington Texas which apparently had better sound to
start with. My main gripe, and I’ll mention it at the start, is that I do
wonder what the sound quality will be like.

Frozen Over Texas is
a 14 track album with a total running time of around 68 minutes and has 3
tracks lasting under the 2 minute mark, with track 8, “Thousands Of Yesterdays,”
the shortest at 1:33 minutes. The longest track on the album is track 12, “Drum
Solo” clocking in at just under 13 minutes (12.52).

This
is certainly an interesting release, and bearing in mind that it does appear to
be the only live recording that exists, it is also a historical statement.
Having listened to the album many times, I must admit to finding it an amazing
piece of work. Remember that this is a reviewer that isn’t totally convinced of
the merits of live albums in general and is very critical of poor quality
sound. Once I had accepted the sound limitations, then the music did indeed,
win me over.

My
favorite tracks, at the moment are track 2, “Distant Sun,” track 3, “Dancing
Madly Backwards” and track 4, “Armworth,” which are all early tracks after
which the band moves into a more “spacey” feel to some of the tracks.

“Distant
Sun” (5:51) is from the second studio album and has an amazingly powerful
driving bass/drums start before the keyboards appear. The vocals while not the
most powerful, are adequate and do manage to remain in key, most of the time.
The track continues with the keyboards and guitar adding a layer of sound above
the rhythm engine. There is some superb lead guitar work which powers the track
along. “Dancing Madly Backwards” (4:42) has another intro that is heavy with
drum and bass power and more of that majestic lead guitar riffing. There are
nice tempo changes, and the band drives the track along before a blistering
guitar solo fires up around the 2:05 minute mark. I assume at this point, Rod
is desperately banging away on his tambourine awaiting his return to vocal
proceedings around the 3:05 minute mark and takes the track out. The short
fourth track, “Armworth” (1:40), is a little shiny nugget and cuts a perfect
heavy rock feel. This track may be short but certainly big in the impression it
leaves.

As
mentioned earlier, the band at this point move more into the spacier side of
their music with “Myopic Void,” ”It’s War,” “Thousand Days Of Yesterdays”
before returning to the heavy rock on “Frozen Over.” Unfortunately, and this is
another personal gripe, there is the 70’s obligatory “Guitar Solo” (6:42) and
“Drum Solo” (12:52), which I find a little on the extravagant side, but was a
common component of live shows. The concert ends with a very passable cover
version of “Stone Free.”

Despite
Frozen Over Texas being a live and
not perfectly recorded bootleg, it is, by virtue of it being the only live
material from Captain Beyond, a collector’s item. The album is certainly worth
a few listens and while falling short of a special “One To Buy” sticker, it certainly
comes with a big “Highly Recommended” tick on the cover.